Gaza death toll reached 17,700 with 48,780 wounded

The death toll in Gaza has risen to at least 17,700 in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, the health ministry says. Another 48,780 people have been wounded in Israeli attacks.

“The crimes and genocide against the people of Gaza are beyond any description … Ending Palestinian existence with American and European support is inhuman,” ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Two hospitals in central and southern Gaza received 133 bodies of people killed in Israeli bombings over the past 24 hours.

The health ministry said 71 bodies were brought to the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central city of Deir el-Balah. The hospital also received 160 wounded people.

Dozens of people were holding funeral prayers in the hospital’s courtyard before taking the bodies for burial – a scene that has become routine over the past two months of war.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, Nasser Hospital received the bodies of 62 people, the ministry said. The hospital, which is one of the main medical facilities still operating in southern Gaza, also received 99 wounded people.

United States (US) vetoed a United Nations (UN) resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, despite it being backed by the vast majority of Security Council members and many other nations.

Thirteen of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of a draft resolution put forward by the United Arab Emirates with the co-sponsorship of 97 countries, including Pakistan, while Britain abstained.

Israel declared war on Hamas after the group’s October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities, and saw around 240 hostages taken.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and free 138 hostages still held after scores were freed during a short-lived truce.

Several Hamas commanders were killed in an air strike near the Indonesia Hospital, the Israeli military said early Wednesday on X.

Sources in Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian group, told AFP their fighters were battling Israeli troops in a bid to prevent them from breaking into Khan Yunis and surrounding areas.

According to the Hamas-run government media office, dozens of people were killed and injured in heavy strikes on areas east of Khan Yunis.

Meanwhile, areas in the central and northern Gaza Strip were still coming under bombardment, according to Hamas.

The Hamas-run health ministry said air strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed six people and injured 14 others.

Yesterday, senior Political Leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh suggested that if Israel faced resistance from Pakistan, the perpetration of cruelty could cease.

Praising Pakistan as a brave nation, he suggested that if Israel faced resistance from Pakistan, the perpetration of cruelty could cease. Expressing hope in Pakistan’s support, he referred to the country as a land of Mujahideen.

‘Nowhere is safe’

Israel had previously told civilians in the north of the densely populated Gaza Strip to seek shelter in the south of the territory, with many fleeing to Khan Yunis believing it would be safer.

As the war expands, Israel has told people to move even further south, sparking “panic, fear and anxiety”, according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

People were being pushed into an area that is less than one-third of the Gaza Strip, with roads to the south clogged, he said.

International aid groups have condemned the succession of orders to flee from one area to another, saying that civilians were running out of options.

“Nowhere is safe in Gaza,” said United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths.

“Not hospital, not shelters, not refugee camps. No one is safe.”

Following demands to create areas where civilians could shelter, Israel’s army published a map it said was intended to enable Gazans to “evacuate from specific places for their safety if required”.

But the UN criticised the map on Tuesday, saying it was impossible to create safe zones for civilians to flee to inside Gaza.

“The so-called safe zones… are not scientific, they are not rational, they are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of this,” said James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF.

The violence in Gaza “now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age”, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which also warned of the dire public health consequences of the approaching winter.

Their belongings piled onto donkey carts, battered vehicles and camels, Gazans headed south to try to escape the expanding Israeli offensive.

In northern Gaza, the Israeli military said it had encircled the Jabalia refugee camp and also raided a Hamas Internal Security Forces command and control centre.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, several people were killed and injured in Israeli strikes on Jabalia.